Alert Diver does Sports' Illustrated

[Dee]

Apparently DAN didn't appreciate the cover of Skin Diver either. Here's their response....

An Open Letter to Alert Diver Readers Regarding Skin Diver Magazine

Dear All Alert Diver Readers:

Thank you very much for your recent communication concerning Skin Diver magazine. We were also, as were many of our members, taken completely by surprise by the type of cover and content of the February 2002 issue of Skin Diver. As you may remember from the January 2001 Alert Diver editorial announcing the agreement between Skin Diver and DAN, Skin Diver was to provide a subscription to their magazine to each of our members, but neither party (DAN nor Skin Diver) had any editorial control over the material in each other's magazine. However, we too found the cover to be in very bad taste and decided this cannot be allowed to continue.

We therefore immediately contacted the publisher of Skin Diver expressing, in the strongest terms, our concern. We explained that the cover and content were totally inappropriate. The publisher of Skin Diver assured us that this was not a new direction Skin Diver was taking and that it was simply an attempt to compete with other magazines on the newsstand.

We expressed to the publisher that what Skin Diver does on the newsstand may be their business, but when their magazine goes to our members, it is our business too. As a result, they have now agreed to allow DAN to review the cover and content of the Alert Diver edition of Skin Diver. Should there be any concern, the cover will be replaced and the offending material will be removed before publication.

We apologize for the problems this has created, but we assure you that Skin Diver now understands that we will not tolerate material going to our members that is in such poor taste.

Thank you again for your much appreciated comments.


Peter B. Bennett, Ph.D., D.Sc.
President / CEO
Divers Alert Network


Dan Orr
Executive Vice President / COO
Divers Alert Network

DAN's article

 

[Natasha]

Wow Dee! Good work. Glad Dan had the right thing to say. And glad they listened.

 

[watergal]

Thanks, Dee!

What a great response! It is nice to have this nipped in the bud. It is so nice to have a physical activity where men and women can participate on an equal level and dive as partners with the water reducing inherent strength differences; I just hate the idea of women thrown into the role of eye candy.

I think that was what bothered me about Blacknet's question because my answer is yes, I would be complaining, but it would not be as loudly or for the same reasons. I would put pelvis-thrusting guys in Speedos in the same category as articles on tank bangers and $70 snorkles--silly, of no interest, vaugely insulting that someone thinks I might like that, but not alarming or offensive. The difference is that had the consensus has been that this is an ok way to portray lady divers, and this is what guys should want their buddies to be like (ads are supposed to portray what the consumer wants, yes?) then lady divers are at risk of being trivialized and when we are really equal to, and infact have some physiological advantages over men in the water, I found that scary.


And thanks to the guys who added that they found the section useless and skipped it. Now THAT should get the advertisers' attention if nothing else does!


This really is a great board

 

[Iguana Don]

I am shocked and dsgusted.

 

[Walter]

I received my issue of Skin Diver today. I did not find it offensive or in bad taste. I did find it eye catching. OTOH, I do not think there is any point to the cover or "article" except to appeal to the baser traits we all have. Sex sells and anyone who's ever read Skin Diver knows they are concerned with selling and not with actual articles. This is not a surprise to me, but let's put it in perspective, there's no nudity or even semi-nudity in the mag, there's no reason to hide it from the kids.

DSSW,

WWW™

 

[Rick Murchison]

Hmmm... can't see what all the hubub is about. Some of those gals need a few good meals, though.
Rick

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

In case anyone is wondering.

This is the letter from DAN http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/news/article.asp?newsid=137

This is the cover in question


Ed

 

[large_diver]

Walter -- don't mean to pick a fight here....

It's not the pictures of models in bathing suits that bother me......it's the pose and look in the eyes of the model on the cover that I don't particularly want my 5 year old daughter emulating. To me this is a subtle but important difference ;-)

 

[KC_Scubabunny]

I agree with what Walter said "Sex Sells". It is because I agree with this that I have bigger concerns.

I am afraid that Skin Divers off the rack sales will go up this month. I am afraid that people who have never purchased a dive magazine will suddenly see this cover and think to themselves "That diving looks like a good sport to get into" based on the cover model and not a genuine interest in the sport. Even worse would be if other dive magazines followed suit because it worked for Skin Diver.

Another thing that concerns me is that I know that more and more divers are getting into the sport as pre-teens and teens. This is an extremely fragile age in terms of values setting and self image for both boys and girls. I think that this is the wrong message to send to young divers about the sport. Some where there is probably a little Johnnie or Janie Diver who's grandma ordered them a subscription to Skin Diver for Christmas because it was the only dive magazine that was offered through Publishers Clearing House. Imagine the surprise at that house!

The certifying agencies are spending a lot of time and effort to make diving a family friendly sport.

I agree with earlier comments that there was not nudity or obviously R rated material in the magazine but I think those of us who object would have all felt better if the cover pic had been one of the girl walking on the beach in a wetsuit and not a the one that was chosen.

Kudos to DAN for their immediate message. Hopefully they will follow up by either removing their name from future questionable magazines or making sure that it doesn't happen again.

KC_Scubabunny

 

[scuba-sass]

Well Said!

Scuba-sass